A digital revolution is underway at the University of Denver’s Penrose Library, where a $30 million renovation will cut the number of bound books and journals and push the remainder into the basement to create space more friendly to tech-savvy students.

“The renovation will change the building’s functionality from book-storage space to technology-rich people space,” DU chancellor Robert Coombe said.

Like most libraries, Penrose has been increasing the digital content offered in the catalog. Today, the library’s customers have access to 1.7 million digital links — 686,442 of which lead to electronic books that can be checked out to computers or readers, such as the iPad, Kindle or Nook.

Nearly 40 percent of the 126,953 hard-copy books purchased for Penrose between 2000 and 2004 have gone unused. The library can rent e-books and purchase them after they are checked out four times, rather than buying a volume that might never be used.

“This is all about service,” Levine-Clark said. “We can give them wider access to what they really want instead of guessing at the possible need.”

The Penrose renovation, which begins next summer, follows in the footsteps of other university libraries, where hard-copy books have been removed from the shelves, replaced by digital media.

Stanford University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology and other schools are reducing their book collections — in some cases drastically. The University of Texas at San Antonio’s Applied Engineering and Technology Library says it has no bound books at all, according to the website insidehighered.com

Public libraries, too, have begun investing in their digital collections.

“Our physical collection has not gone down because of digital media, but we are collecting digital media as a format because our customers are asking for it,” said Denver Public Library spokeswoman Diane Lapierre. “We are buying both.”

Print won’t be gone

The digitization at DU is ongoing but won’t eliminate print products, said library director Nancy Allen. “We are like every library. We are doing a lot to bring the world of digital books to our students and faculty, but that doesn’t mean we abandon our paper collection.”

About 140,000 of the 1.1 million books now on the shelves will go into storage along with about a million bound scholarly journals, documents and other materials. Those who need access to them will have it.

“We will deliver them,” Levine-Clark said. “Maybe to a central reading room or any number of places.”

All the remaining books will migrate to the basement, where they will sit on shelves that can be closed together when not in use and slid open to reach books. The result will be blocks of compressed shelving alongside seating and work stations on a floor that now holds nothing but shelving.

Changes in library use

A greater academic focus on group-study projects has changed the way students use the library, Allen said.

When the 150,000-square- foot library was built in 1971, students who studied there did so mainly by themselves. But to keep pace with business practices that are more focused on collaboration, instructors these days assign work done in teams.

Some students still want individual quiet space, Allen said, “but there are also those who need to study in groups and work with classmates on projects.”

When the 18-month renovation is complete, there will be seating and study space on all three floors rather than just two, Allen said. Plans call for individual-study spaces, as well as work stations where students can cluster.

Key academic support services, including a center for teaching and learning and a math tutorial center, will remain at the library.

Several students studying at the library this week said they welcome the renovation.

Accounting major McKinsie Barnes, 20, said she expects to see more room for study and “a more professional environment.”

“There will be nice, little creative work spaces where we can hang out,” said Max Ravech, 20, who is majoring in finance and real estate. “It will be more motivating to come.”

A general assignment reporter for The Denver Post, Tom McGhee has covered business, police, courts, higher education and breaking news. He came to The Post from Albuquerque, N.M., where he worked for a year and a half covering utilities. He began his journalism career in New York City, worked for a pair of community weeklies that covered the west side of Manhattan from 14th Street to 125th Street.

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